Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town – Parties were at odds with each other on Thursday on whether to return to Parliament to work there physically, despite the devastating fire that caused extensive damage.
Members of the EFF were pushing for the return of all MPs in the precinct, with the ANC being more cautious.
EFF members Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi and Natasha Ntlangwini told the programming committee that since Cabinet had decided that all learners should go back to school, it was time for MPs to also return to parliament.
But ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said this was not going to be possible because of the recent fire that ravaged parts of the complex.
The National Assembly and parts of the Old Assembly chamber were affected by the fire.
However, Parliamentary counsellor to Deputy President David Mabuza, Hope Papo said the hybrid working model had been working well since Covid-19.
The fire has compounded the problem, with little space now available for MPs.
In a report that was tabled by the Department of Public Works last Friday, offices of ANC MPs were affected by the fire. The offices of the National Freedom Party and Good Party were also damaged in the fire.
Papo said MPs who come to parliament must have offices to work from.
“The difficulty is that the bulk of members don’t have office space in the National Assembly, that is the governing party, there is the NFP and there is also the Good Party who don’t have work space. The parliamentary team was looking at spaces so that we could expand. I don’t think the rule which says workplaces means there is no physical distance thing, we must ignore it, we are not sure who is vaccinated or not,” said Papo.
He said if everyone returned to parliament there would not be enough working space for those MPs.
DA deputy chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said she agreed with Papo that the hybrid model that parliament adopted in 2020 must continue to be used.
“I think honourable Papo raises an important point that we should not throw the baby with the bath water, in terms of hybrid strategies. I think the Covid-19 pandemic has given us an opportunity to improve so that you may be able to use some cost-cutting and cost-saving measures to be able to do the work of parliament,” said Gwarube.
She said the programming committee must come up with time lines for alternative venues for MPs.
“We mustn’t let this fire, deputy speaker, already dampen the work of parliament further than Covid-19 has,” she said.
ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina also said they must look at the venues that were available that could be used by MPs.
However, she said the proposal by the EFF for all MPs to return to parliament was not possible because of the damage done by the fire.
But she said they need to look at the other venues that could be used.
Ntlangwini and Mkhaliphi said all MPs must physically return to parliament because most of the restrictions had been lifted and learners had all gone back to school.
This followed months of the rotation policy that was adopted by the government when Covid-19 hit the country.
POLITICAL BUREAU
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